St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital Services Having A Baby Breastfeeding
Services St Anthony Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding Services

Breastfeeding provides your baby with the perfect nutrition and promotes the best opportunity for lifelong healthy growth and development. HSHS St. Anthony’s is here to offer support and education to moms and babies throughout the breastfeeding journey. We offer an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant as well as Certified Lactation Consultants to assist you and your baby.

To help give every baby and mom the healthiest start possible, the St. Anthony’s Women’s Wellness Center offers:

  • Lactation consultants, available by appointment, Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by calling 217-347-1638. For any breastfeeding needs after hours, you -may contact the Women and Children's Department at 217-347-1321.

HSHS St. Anthony's is a designated Baby-Friendly hospital

 

HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital has received the prestigious international recognition as a Designated Baby-Friendly birth facility from Baby-Friendly USA.

“We are excited to receive this recognition,” said Ashley Vincent, manager of women and infant services and pediatrics at HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital. “Being named a Baby-Friendly hospital means we use the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding to provide mothers with the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies.”

Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. is the U.S. authority for the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (“BFHI”), a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies.

“While all new mothers at St. Anthony’s are free to decide how best to feed their babies, we believe breastfeeding whenever possible is a healthier option for mothers and infants,” said Vincent. “Our goal is to encourage and assist new mothers to breastfeed their babies.”

 

Our Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are:

 

  1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
  2. Train all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy.
  3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
  4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
  5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
  6. Give infants no food or drink other than breast-milk, unless medically indicated.
  7. Practice rooming in – allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
  8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
  9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
  10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center.

For more information or for assistance with breastfeeding, 
contact our 
Certified Lactation Consultants at
217-347-1638